In a conveyor system, conveyor pallets are used to transport goods or products that are not suitable to be transported directly on the conveyor system itself by reason of the nature of the goods or the need to access the goods for processing, such as a plurality of goods in a magazine. In addition, the goods may require a pallet because of their shape and/or size, or due to their sensitivity, fragility or inability to be positionally stable.
Conveyor systems may have curved sections, diverts, merging mechanisms and the like and may operate at varying speeds. Accordingly, the pallet may be subject to sudden acceleration, deceleration or radial forces. Further, in conveying around curved sections, the pallets may become jammed due to mis-alignment in the conveyor tracks. If conveying an unstable, off-centered, or top heavy product, forces may cause the product to topple off of the pallet or become dislodged from the pallet, which could result in damage to the product or conveyor system. This may result in the need to shut down the conveyor system or may reduce the ability to be able to orient the product in a controlled manner on the conveyor system.
Conventional pallets are generally simple platforms that may have some fixtures or mechanisms for supporting a product thereon but can still be quite unstable, particularly when undergoing acceleration, deceleration or radial forces.
Thus, there is a need for a pallet or adapter having features address at least some of the challenges of alignment and stability while supporting a product, for example, a top heavy or an off-center product during travel over a conveyor system.